Lent EXPOSED: The Truth Most Catholics Miss! (Fr Cristino)

Are you truly making the most of Lent? Many Catholics don’t realize the real purpose of this sacred season! In this video, we uncover the hidden meaning of Lent, why the Church gives us this time, and how it deeply connects to Scripture—even if you don’t see the word "Lent" in the Bible!

📖 Why does Lent matter?🕊️ What are the real requirements?
🙏 Should you give something up—or take something on?
🔥 Avoid the #1 mistake Catholics make during Lent!

Join us as we break down the history, tradition, and power of Lent so you can fully prepare for Easter like never before!

Transcript

So we are starting lent first Friday of Lent um and I thought we should talk about like unveil lent for us what is the purpose of Lent why does the church give us this time well I mean first of all the the origins of of Lent uh really go all the way back to the beginning of of the church it took a a bit of time for things to develop and unfold when it comes to the the liturgical cycle and and the kind of living out of of how we now just sort of take for granted this very cleancut structure to our year and that's how the church works right right we just don't look back to the early church we have to do exactly how things were when Jesus walked on the earth well we couldn't possibly because we didn't even know what we were doing at the time you know you're going to hear people say that you're going to say well where is the word lent in the Bible right exactly and that's an so many people ask well where is that in the Bible Well we do know that Jesus went for 40 days and 40 nights Into the Wilderness and it was a form of uh preparation for undertaking his public Ministry in the synoptic gospels we are told that when Jesus is baptized that he's driven out into the Wilderness by the holy spirit that he goes out to prepare himself after this sort of public demonstration the baptism of the Lord it was not something he needed it was something that he did to show us something about himself and then after entering into that time in the wilderness he demonstrated further for us why it is important for us to to imitate that and so the church's observance of the season of Lent is is in the Bible it's in Imitation of what our Lord did by spending those 40 days and 40 nights fasting and praying and being in seclusion in the desert before really undertaking his public Ministry so that is basically the the reason for having lent and as you say people will always say well where is that in the Bible or like how does that relate to the tradition of the church that's actually one that's pretty clear we see why we have it and it's not something very modern and sometimes in the church something that's 500 years old could still be considered modern but it's not modern this has been going on very very early on in in the life of the church as a way of preparing for Easter so this 40 period 40-day period of time is ordered towards preparing ourselves to celebrate most fully the Lord's resurrection and we have many ways and practices and and spiritual disciplines that are used to help us sort of imitate or or or simulate as it were what Jesus did by going into the Wilderness himself okay so when we look at what the church asks of us for Lent and I'm speaking of requirements what does the church say Well it lent begins uh on Ash Wednesday and then lent formally concludes in Holy Week on Holy Thursday uh that three days Holy Thursday Good Friday and Holy Saturday are outside of of the count as it were of of the of the days of Lent because they're their own period of time uh and so when you when you count you actually find more than 40 days inside of Lent and that's because we also subtract from that count the Sundays of Lent uh because Sunday is seen as a as a separate Day from the rest of the days of the week it's the Lord's day and so we observe it differently that's why we obligated to go to mass on Sunday uh and during Lent if you are exercising some kinds of discipline or something on those days it's proper for them to be relaxed because the idea is that Sunday is always a day pointing towards the Lord's Resurrection Easter I I think I've heard it said that uh Easter is just a really big Sunday and that every Sunday is pointing us towards Easter every Sunday is a reminder to us of our Lord's Resurrection so that's going to be some really good news from people who hear that thinking okay I can relax a little bit on Sunday absolutely and it's and it's proper to do that because it reminds us that the the way in which we celebrate the Lord's Resurrection is always with joy in in something that that lifts our hearts uh but we don't have to if your heart is constantly lifted then how can you ever lifted more uh it's it's by letting ourselves go down into uh the Wilderness you we might say like lent reminds us that we need to do that makes it all the more real and all the more uplifting when we let ourselves be lifted up every Sunday during the lent in observance and so the church's requirements of us in Lent are actually pretty minimal we would accept the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday that we would abstain from meat uh even on the Fridays of Lent it's it's not strictly required any longer by canon law that we abstain from meat but it is still strongly encouraged that at least in the season of Lent we would abstain from meat on Fridays and then on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday we observe a proper fast and a fast in the church is is defined as having only one normal-sized meal meal and then two smaller meals that when added together would not be equivalent to a normal sized meal and then no snacking in between and so that's the way that in a certain age range from 18 to 60 years old the the law of the church requires fasting and abstinence from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and then that's it however else you're going to organize and Design your time in spiritual preparation for Easter there's a lot of freedom that's given to us and then of course many traditions and Customs that have developed over time that people find beneficial for them to enter into so this is interesting because some might respond say oh I actually don't have to give up anything for Lent so technically that is correct in that sense but one if one starts going down that road what would you say well I think we've talked about this in different context before and it's it doesn't hurt to go back to it we should not always be aiming for the bare minimum in a relationship of love you can't be satisfied with just doing what you have to right I I think Janelle would be understandably frustrated if not offended if you were to ever ask her what's the bare minimum that you need from me to help with the kids or to help around the house uh because I I'll do that I just won't have to do any more than that you can't start by asking what's the bare minimum you want from me so we we should never begin in asking any question about how we practice our faith as Catholics with what's what is the absolute minimum requirement that the church has imposed upon me before tumble into hell well that's unfortunately that's the direction I think you'll be trending if that's the starting point in our mind we should always be asking what can I do right how much can I do how much can I love and not be unrealistic not try and hold ourselves to something that is beyond our reach uh because that then actually can turn into Pride right so in humility we should want to give as much as we can but then not be disappointed in oursel or or embarrassed by the fact that maybe we see we can't give as much as we wish we we could uh and so in Lent the church is not asking us to give something up the church is proposing to us that we find some way of understanding how I have tried interiorly to enter into the discipline of Lent uh I I don't have it readily available to me but when you see the opening collect of the mass on Ash Wednesday it makes reference to this campaign of Christian service that that the way that that's written it it has militant militant uh uh imagery you know there's there's a way in which sounds like we're starting to go into battle today uh and it it has a that that Spirit of with whom am I going into battle it's not just the devil uh I'm going into battle against myself we we have to fight ourselves and our our attachment to comfort uh the way in which we want to just try and make everything go our way those things are mostly what we're doing battle with and so when we give something up or sometimes I think even more fruitfully than giving something up is taking something on during Lent if we're trying to increase or intensify what we already try to do that might even be an even more spiritually fruitful thing than not having potato chips and that's fine if you really eat a lot of chips and so you're going to notice that you're not having them these days then that's good but the giving up of something isn't even always as beneficial as the taking something on taking something on one could do is prayer uh can you can you speak to that uh some maybe some tips on going into lent here we've started what can someone do to enhance their prayer life maybe some ideas or just some general thoughts MH well I know that we've talked about in the past and I think during Lent you know different topics will come up about prayer fasting alls giving the different ways in which we can fruitfully enter into lent I think prayer understandably would be seen as the most important uh fasting almsgiving any other spiritual disciplines are still proposed to us even by our Lord in the gospel he specifically recommends prayer fasting and almsgiving but fasting and almsgiving are only mentioned that one time which is what we use throughout the course of Lent to justify why we continue to do that but our Lord makes reference to prayer continuously throughout the gospel so it's clear that he is showing us that the only way we can grow in our spirit spiritual life is through prayer and if in the season of Lent we try to be intentional about growing that practice and and cultivating the virtue of praying and praying more with more intentionality then we'll have made a good lend so it's not always just about numerical amounts either where we say well I normally pray for 15 minutes so during Lent I'll try and pray for 30 minutes it has to be more more than just the the number of minutes in a day that I spend in prayer we we need to try and examine how am I praying and in what ways could I enhance or improve that and so that might involve the time of day when you try to do your prayer where do you try to do your prayer what resources do you use when it comes to organizing how you spend time in prayer I I like to try and encourage people to use the uh I don't know what to call them I I just sort of refer to them as like uh metrics like the the these little rules if you will that will help you organize your prayer life but that our prayer needs to be planned scheduled manageable and consistent planned scheduled manageable and consistent planned means I know what I will be doing during my prayer time uh if we say that we're going to pray and then we sit down and say okay Holy Spirit Lead Me praying now who know I don't know what'll happen that if you if you don't know what the the way in which you intend to pray it will be very easy to become distracted and that's why a lot of people I think even St Teresa Avala said I dare not begin mental prayer without a book MH and so there is something very uh helpful and reliable about saying I use this devotional or I always read the gospel of today's mass uh we should just have some idea of a concrete thing that will be present as part of my prayer time scheduled means that I know when I'm going to do my prayer it does not have to be a a set time every single day maybe some people have more fluid schedules and so they would find that difficult I know people who have shift work for example who are sleeping at different times of the day maybe it's it's just not man it's it's not realistic for them to to be able to say at every every day at this time I sit down to pray but that that doesn't mean that it shouldn't be factored into my daily routine and into my calendar and I actually think it's it's valuable for people now everyone's living off of their phones constantly put into your phone when your prayer time is supposed to be maybe you want set an alarm or a reminder that you know start your prayer in 15 minutes or you have it in your calendar as if it was an appointment to see the doctor because that is what prayer is we're going to see the Divine physician and spend that moment with the Lord however brief it might be and so we should try and treat it as if it was an appointment so if it's planned and scheduled we need to then make sure that what we're doing with that plan and that schedule is manageable that it's realistic I'm that I'm actually going to be able to fulfill this because if you say that you're going to spend 3 hours in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every day that's wonderful but if you can't actually do that then after a few days of failing to do the thing you said you were going to do you just become discouraged can I jump in there CU if um I spend 3 hours a day in front of the Blessed socent Janelle's going to be quite upset with me I could imagine so when we're setting our atlon disciplines or our time of prayer there has to be something they said to also is it taking away from my daily Duty right and I just thought I'd throw throw that in there 3 hours is an exaggeration for me half an hour does not take away from my daily duties I would even say for me an hour would not three hours would yes so sorry to jump in but I just this is just a point there it's a very important point because everyone's state of life also demands something different from them as well so monks in a monastery who their entire life is structured around praying during Lent pray even more than they already pray and that is proper to their state of life but when you're raising a family doesn't matter whether it's lent or not all the same things still need to happen and because of the time of year that lent always occurs which is when kids are still in school or sports are are actively being practiced then you might find that you you can barely notice that there's any shift or change to your family's life and routine so it's not when I say manageable it can't just be about whether or not I have the inner capacity to do it we have to look around in our state of life and say what else is required of me to make sure that I'm that I'm doing that properly so if our prayer is planned scheduled and manageable those three things combined are what help to make it consistent and consistency becomes like the the the the Bedrock it's the foundation upon which a life of Prayer be built and quite simply consistent just means daily and I think the way most people tend to struggle especially those who will have a Monday to Friday 9 to 5 kind of job and and routine is on the weekends uh if if you're are used to working and you're used to being in school or Monday through through Friday you have a pretty predictable schedule but then Saturday and Sunday it's a little bit less structured that's when people often experience their prayer goes out the window which means if you feel like you're starting your prayer life over again on a weekly basis every Monday okay trying to get back in the routine Maybe by Wednesday or Thursday I I think I've got it I'm back in in action Friday great day of prayer oh Saturday back down the tube because it's always restarting that way we really need when we're trying to examine the manageable side of things to ask myself what can I do every day including on Saturday and Sunday I I it has to be able to be every day of the week because when we start to let it go it will erode our ability to maintain a consistent practice of prayer and if that happens we'll always feel like we're starting over again okay closing thoughts on starting off here and lent anything else that you would like to touch on well I think just to remind people to take full advantage of of the church and her wisdom giving this season to us and reminding us that uh we will not sufficiently appreciate the joy of the Resurrection at Easter if we do not give ourselves that period of time to go with our Lord into the desert and allow ourselves to be formed and prepared in advance great Point great thank you for those of you are watching please comment below share with us what stood up to and why and we'll end with a prayer Oh my Jesus and my redeemer who will one day be my judge have pity on me before the day of Justice behold at thy feet a deserter who has often promised to be faithful to you and has as often again turned his back upon you forgive me O Lord for I desire truly to change and amend my life I am sorry my sovereign good for having despised thee take pity on me